Understanding Anna
by Oxymoronic Alliteration
Summary: The team investigates the disappearance of a female Petty Officer. Tim becomes increasingly interested in the missing woman as he reads through her blog and feels a strange understanding of her. Written for the NFA Community Original Character Challenge
1. Chapter 1

_Another date, another dud. This one was a blind date, courtesy of Shannon. I know she means well, but she always seems to think that is a guy is her type, then he must be my type too. She doesn't seem to get that I'm not into the beefy, jock guys who think beer chugging is an impressive ability. If you think I'm being too harsh on this guy, I can assure you he's likely telling his friends about me right now and referring to me as "Shannon's geeky friend," which is the same thing he kept calling me all night. Suffice it to say, I wasn't really his type either._

_I know that I'm not the idea of womanly perfection. I'm not a size 0, I don't have perfectly highlighted blonde hair that never frizzes or is out of place, I don't have perfect skin, and I can't spend money to get manicures, pedicures, and waxings on a regular basis. I guess I just always assumed, though, that there was some guy out there who didn't care about that. Maybe I've just been living in a fairytale, what with thinking that we really did have soul mates._

_Sorry if I've depressed you all with my increasingly cynical view on life and romance. Just one of those moods, you know?_

Tim sat back as he finished the blog entry. It was the sixty-eighth most recent entry in the blog of Petty Officer Anna Quigley, a young woman who had gone missing three days earlier. The apartment she shared with fellow P.O. Shannon Pearson was clean with no signs of forced entry or a struggle, but Quigley's car had still been in the parking lot of the apartment complex and she hadn't returned to the apartment since that Wednesday. None of her belongings had been packed and there had been no bank withdrawals or charges to her credit card within that time period either. It was as though she'd simply fallen off the face of the earth.

Quigley's computer had been transported to Abby's lab and Tim had been given the task of going through it for any sign of where she may have gone, be it voluntarily or otherwise. There was little she had in her personal folders aside from a few family pictures. Her e-mail account showed no suspicious e-mails and there were no questionable websites in her favorites. She liked old time Hollywood movies, she had a slight obsession with Bette David and with Archie comics, she frequented cooking websites to find new recipe, and she had an Ebay account on which she'd sold a few comic books and an old jewelry box that she never used. In fact, the only thing of interest that Tim had managed to find was a personal blog that Quigley kept. It was a private blog and was only being read by six people, five being good friends of Quigley and one being a cousin. Tim had decided to focus on the blog for any insight as to who P.O. Anna Quigley was.

Anna was an insecure woman who tried to hide her insecurities behind humor and sarcasm. She was one of those self-deprecating people who figured that if she insulted herself before someone else did it wouldn't hurt so much. She considered herself homely, but she didn't wish to look like the fashion models and celebrities who supposedly represent the societal ideal of beauty; rather, she wished that people would simply stop putting labels on beauty. Anna had trouble meeting men who were "intellectually stimulating" enough for her and, even at the young age of twenty-six, was beginning to fear that there would be no story book ending for her, that she simply wasn't meant to get married.

Much of the blog, which she'd been keeping for two years, was filled with bitter and dour entries in which Anna bemoaned her romantic life –or lack, thereof –and analyzed herself as a potential girlfriend, never quite understanding how to better herself. She dreamed of tales of romance like the ones she'd seen in old movies; tales in which gentlemanly men would woo her and romance her and the two would dance together, holding each other closely under a moonlit night.

There were no stories of her attending raucous parties or any acts of spontaneity. There were few references to friends, aside from Shannon who, it seemed, Anna both admired and envied for her all-American girl looks and her ability to attract any guy she wanted. Anna's social life was limited to her work in the Navy and her cyber life.

Tim had started with the most recent entry of her blog – a short entry in which she mentioned how the cute new guy who had moved into the apartment across from them had turned out to be gay – and had worked his way back. The overall tone of her blog rarely changed. Sometimes she was in a brighter mood; sometimes she was in a darker mood. Mostly, though, she was snarky and pessimistic.

"How are things with your cyber girlfriend?" Tony asked as he walked up behind Tim, startling the younger agent slightly.

"She's not my girlfriend," he snapped.

"No, you just want her to be."

"I just…I understand where she's coming from." And it was true. Many of the things in Anna's blog were things Tim understood all too well. He knew what it was like to feel as though you weren't living up to a certain standard of "perfection" and to feel as though no one was going to ever just accept you for who you were. He knew how it felt when the fairytale ending you'd always imagined you'd get began to seem more and more like an unattainable dream. Most of all, he knew what it was like to feel alone. God, did he hate feeling alone. "It's not easy to be told by popular magazines and stupid MTV shows that you have to look and act a certain way in order to be liked," Tim said with a pointed look. "I'm sure even you went through a few awkward phases in your life, Tony."

"Ha! Anthony DiNozzo does not do awkward." He ran his hand slickly through his hair. "We DiNozzos are cool and suave at every moment," he explained as he sat into a nearby chair and leaned it back. Unfortunately, he leaned back a smidge too far and both he and the chair toppled over as Tim watched with great amusement.

"You were saying?"

Tony glared at him as he stood and righted the chair. "Doesn't count if there aren't women here." When he saw Tim's disbelieving look, he relented. "Okay, yes, I've had my share of awkward moments. Who hasn't? I'm just saying, I don't think it's really good idea for you to become so involved in this woman just by reading her blog," Tony told him sincerely. "That's not healthy. It's like falling in love with a fictional character or something."

"I'm not in love with her, Tony," Tim insisted. "I just get what she's talking about." The truth was, Tim _had_ begun developing a small crush on the missing woman. He hadn't initially felt anything for her, not even when they'd received a picture of the woman. She was a rather plain-looking woman. Medium height, medium build, brown eyes, frizzy brown hair, slightly freckled. Not exquisitely beautiful, but not incredibly ugly. She was just…there. She was one of those people who probably blended in well with a crowd. She was just kind of unforgettable. People probably had trouble remembering her name, let alone her face.

But Tim was now having trouble _forgetting_ both of those things. He'd grown increasingly interested in her, even forgoing lunch to read more of her blog and learn more about her. It wasn't about finding her anymore for Tim; it was about knowing her.

"Whatever you tell yourself," Tony told him, giving Tim a slight pat on the back. "I'm just saying, for your own good, that you should maybe ease up on this. If you haven't found anything helpful in any of the entries from the past month or so, it's unlikely you're going to find anything at all."

"I'm just being thorough." Tim knew that was a lie, and he knew Tony knew. Still, he couldn't quite let up on this, on Anna, just yet. "But I will at least take a break," he conceded. He stood, wincing as his bones creaked. He didn't realize just how long he'd been sitting down here, hunched over Anna's computer.

Tony grabbed his arm, pulling him toward the door. "We've got some pad Thai left over upstairs. I'm sure your stomach will appreciate it."

Tim gave the computer a final glance. The window to Anna's blog was still up, just begging to be read. What more did Anna have to say?

* * *

**AN:** This is a short multi-chaptered fic. I'll post one chapter per day!


	2. Chapter 2

_I guess I'm invisible. Some guy at the coffee shop just bumped right into me today. He didn't apologize or even mention the fact that the force of his body hitting me nearly pushed me into one of the coffee displays. He just kept walking as though nothing had happened. I wouldn't have been so annoyed if it weren't for the fact that a guy had been holding the door open for a stream of people and, as soon as I got there, let it go to slam in my face. I know people seem to think invisibility would be a great super power, but it actually kind of sucks. Besides, I know I'd never be able to use it to my advantage because with my luck, as soon as I went to intentionally use it for whatever I needed it would disappear, only to reappear when I didn't want it._

Tim stifled back a yawn and rubbed his eyes with his knuckles. The lab vacant, save for him, and it was eerily silent, with only the soft hum of the computer breaking the silence. He wasn't sure what time it was, nor was he sure just how long he'd been down here. He was nearing the beginning of Anna's blog and would soon be out of entries to read. He thought about going home and finishing them off tomorrow, but he knew that even if he did go home, there was no way he would be able to sleep. As long as he was awake, he may as well be working to find Anna. He clicked on the next entry.

_I had a crazy dream last night. Actually, I guess it was more of a nightmare than anything else, considering the subject matter. I know most of you know about it, though I guess a couple of you didn't meet me until after the Jerry incident. Jerry was this guy I kind of dated in high school. I wasn't that into him, but he was into me and I kind of figured he may be as good as it gets, so I was with him for a while. _

_Then, though, he began to get really possessive, not to mention stalkerish. He'd drive by my house just to make sure there were no other guys there or call to see if another guy answered. It got really ridiculous, so I finally just broke it off with him, but he didn't stop. He'd follow me around and park outside my house to see if I was with anyone. Funny, right? I mean, I finally meet a guy who really likes me and he's some psycho stalker. Such is my life, I guess. Anyway, it got to the point where I had to talk to him. I approached him after school one day – he was in community college by this point, but he always scheduled his classes so that he'd be in the school parking lot by the time school let out for me –and I told him that I was going to call the cops if he didn't leave me alone. He got pissed! He grabbed my arm and tried to keep me from leaving and started yelling at me. If it hadn't been for the fact that the basketball coach was in the parking lot…well, I won't even go there._

_He started crying, telling me he was sorry and that he was just trying to make things right between us. I felt sorry for him, so I decided not to press charges. After that, he never tried to contact me again and I eventually forgot about him._

_Last night, though, I dreamt that I was back in high school and still with him. He kept trying to pull me away from home and no matter what I did I couldn't get away and I couldn't get anyone to help me. I woke up almost crying and it took me a second to realize it had just been a nightmare. Still, it really freaked me out and I had to go out and double check that all of the doors and windows were locked. I haven't discussed him with anyone who didn't already know him – not Shannon or anyone in my unit – because I figured if I didn't talk about him I could just pretend like it had never happened. But that dream…it just brought back things I'd prefer to have kept locked up in my mind._

As Tim read through the entry, he became more and more alarmed. When they'd gone through Anna's file and personal history, they'd found no mention of any stalker by the name of Jerry. Her parents were both deceased and she had grown up in Iowa, so anyone who probably knew about the incident hadn't been contacted by the team. Was it possible that this guy from her past had shouldered his way back into her life?

Whether or not it was possible, Tim knew he had to let Gibbs know he may have gotten a lead in the case. No longer fatigued, Tim pulled his cell phone out.

* * *

"She never mentioned anyone named Jerry," Shannon told Tony and McGee as they sat on the small couch. After Tim had called Gibbs the previous night, the team had assembled and now, with a second wind, were running down the lead. Ziva was finding everything she could about Jerry Lester and Tony and Tim had gone back to talk with Shannon about him. "She didn't talk much about her childhood, though."

"Had she seemed particularly jumpy lately?" Tim asked.

Shannon was pensive for a moment before nodding. "It was only one day about a week ago. She got home and she looked kind of…I dunno…freaked out, I guess. When I asked what was wrong she just shook her head and told me something about not looking where she was going and almost being hit by a car."

"Why didn't you mention this before?"

She lowered her eyes sheepishly. "I hadn't really thought much of it, Agent DiNozzo. It wouldn't be the first time Anna didn't watch where she was going.' She looked up at them, eyes wide. "God, that sounds so harsh of me to say…I just meant she could be kind of clumsy sometimes and sometimes she would get lost in her thoughts and just tune everything else out. She wasn't always aware of her surroundings."

Tony's cell rang. He pulled it out, gestured to McGee to continue with the interview, and stepped out into the hallway. McGee looked back to Shannon. She was almost the exact opposite of Anna, with long, blonde hair and bright blue eyes. She was petite with a slim body and nothing looked to be out of place. She looked like the kind of woman you'd expect to see on a cheerleading squad, not in the Navy. From the pictures he'd seen of her around the apartment, she had no trouble socializing with others or with getting dates. "How did you and Anna end up as roommates?"

"We're next to each other alphabetically, so we ended up beside each other throughout training. We just ended up talking a lot and becoming friends. While women are becoming more interested in military, we're still far outnumbered by the men. It's nice to have a girlfriend to go to when none of the guys would understand."

"What kind of girl is she?" he asked, specifically saying "is" rather than "was."

"She's nice, Agent McGee. She's a bit awkward and she spends more time talking to people online than in real life, but she's not anti-social. People kind of wrote her off as being anti-social, but she was just shy…_is_ shy. She told me she likes talking to people online because you don't have to actually face them and you can take all the time you need to respond to them. It takes the pressure off. I didn't think that was completely healthy, but I'm glad she's able to socialize, even if just over the internet."

"I take it she didn't date much?"

"No," Shannon said with a shake of her head. "I tried to set her up with some guys I knew, but it never quite worked out for her. I felt bad for her, though I never told her. I mean, who wants to be pitied? Still, she really does have a lot to offer a guy."

Tony re-entered, ceasing Tim's pointless questions. He already knew the answer to so many of them and they most likely had no bearing on her disappearance. Tim just wanted to know more about her, like a love sick teenager. "Come on," Tony beckoned to Tim. They bade Shannon good-bye and exited the apartment before Tony filled Tim in. "Ziva was talking to one of P.O. Quigley's old friends back in Iowa. She claimed that Quigley had recently run in to Jerry."

"He threaten her?" Tim asked.

"According to the friend, Quigley claims he looked just as surprised to see her as she did to see him and that they'd talked for a bit, but she had still been a bit spooked about seeing him."

"Is that all we know about the guy?"

"No, we also know that he dropped out of the community college he was attending to work for his uncle's roofing business. After three years of that, he just up and left. He paid the bills by doing odd jobs around towns and made his way east to Virginia. As of late, he's been doing some work installing air conditioners and cleaning gutters."

"Address?"

"None listed. According to his employers, he sleeps on couches of friends. Sometimes they let him crash in one of the offices."

"Where is he now?" Tim asked as they approached the car.

"That's just it, McGee," Tony replied, sliding into the driver's seat. "He hasn't been seen in about a week. Seems he disappeared right around the time our Petty Officer did." They squealed out of the parking lot, their current suspect growing more and more suspicious. Tim was becoming more and more frantic, certain that he had to find Anna before it was too late.


	3. Chapter 3

"Lester's parents are both deceased and he has no next of kin," Ziva said. On the plasma was the picture of their current suspect taken from his driver's license. Jerry Lester was a large man with a line-backer's build. The bangs of his brown hair hung down, ending just above his eyebrows. His green eyes seemed to pierce through you when you looked at the picture and his mouth was tight in a slight frown. He looked as though he would jump out of the screen and tackle you to the ground. "He has not shown up for any jobs in a week. So far the BOLO on his car has had no hits. It would seem he has disappeared off the face of the earth."

"Like Quigley," Tony commented. "So ex-boyfriend turned stalker pops up and now both he and his former object of affection are gone."

"Sounds like we have a case," Ziva agreed.

"A case isn't any good unless we can find both of them," Tim pointed out. He was looking through the file on Lester they'd received. If Lester _was_ behind it, then their choices at this point were few. If he'd simply kidnapped Anna and she was still alive – hopefully she was still alive – where was he hiding her? The only other scenario was…well, no, Tim wasn't going to think about that. "He doesn't own any property, he doesn't have any living relatives or close friends. So where would he bring her?"

Ziva and Tony exchanged glances across the way. Tim had become increasingly dedicated to finding Anna, almost bordering on obsessive. They were starting to become concerned that, should P.O. Quigley _not_ be found alive, Tim wouldn't take it very well. "You have to think about the possibility that he isn't holding her anywhere, Probie."

"You think I haven't?" Tim snapped. "Unlike you two, though, I try to be optimistic."

"You have to be prepared for any outcome, McGee," Ziva told him. "I do hope that she is found alive – I _always_ hope we find our missing persons alive – but if the worst is true and she is already dead…" the woman trailed off with a soft tone. "Well, you will have to accept it."

"Fine! Maybe she's dead! Either way, where is she?"

No one responded. The amount of possible dumping grounds was vast. She could be buried, she could be deep in some forest, she could be floating at the bottom of the Potomac. They didn't have the resources to search everywhere, especially when they didn't even know if she would be there. For all they knew, Lester had nabbed her, thrown her in the trunk of his car, and was on his way west.

"We've got a hit on the BOLO." The team looked up to see Gibbs strolling in. "Lester's car was spotted driving down the road in Fairfax."

"They pull him over?" Tim asked.

"Didn't have a chance, McGee."

"At least we know he's still here."

"Boss! One of the companies that Lester worked for has a renovation job in Fairfax that isn't scheduled to start until next month." McGee pulled it up on the plasma. "It's in the same area where his car was spotted and it's empty."

"He have a key to get in?"

"No, only the boss would have one, but I can't imagine he'd have that much difficulty breaking in."

"Get the car," Gibbs ordered, tossing the keys to Tony.

* * *

The team pulled up to a seemingly abandoned building. It had been a diner that had gone out of business when the own retired and moved out West. Now, it was in the process of being renovated into come chain store coffee shop. Scaffolding had been set up outside, along with signs warning people not to enter. There was no sign of Lester's car in sight. "Tony, Ziva, you guys go around back. McGee, you're with me."

The team went their separate ways, their weapons in hand and ready to shoot if need be. Tim and Gibbs slipped under the tape that had been put up in a poor attempt to keep trouble making teenagers out. There was no door, and they each stood to one side of the frame. With an exchanged glance and a nod, they whipped into the doorway, guns out and ready. There was nothing.

The two entered, Gibbs veering off to the left and Tim going to the right. The younger agent slipped past what used to be a counter and glanced behind. When he saw no one there, he slipped into what used to be the kitchen area.

"See anything?" Gibbs' voice echoed in his ear.

Tim sighed. "No."

"Clear!" Tony called as he and Ziva entered the front area of the shop. Tim exited and the team reconvened in the main area of the building. "We didn't find anything."

"Nothing in either of the bathrooms," Gibbs added.

"Perhaps we were wrong," Ziva suggested.

Tim was about to glumly agree with her when he caught sight of a door hinge. It had been partially blocked by a few large slabs of wood, obviously placed to hide the door. He gestured toward it. "Help me move those slabs."

The team threw the wood to the side and saw that the door was partially open. "McGee," Gibbs said, nodding to the door. Tim slowly turned the handle, his teammates behind him. With only a second of hesitation, Tim knocked the door open and looked in. A small figure was lying face down on a worn mattress with a ratty blanket laying atop. A chain ran from the wall where it was bolted to under the blanket.

Tim rushed in and knelt beside the figure. There was no doubt it was Anna Quigley. He pulled the blanket back and saw that the chain was latched around her ankle, an ankle that was bruised, likely from her yanking on it in an attempt to free herself.

"Can you unlock it?" Gibbs asked Ziva.

She examined the lock and shook her head. "I can try, but I don't think I'll be able to do much."

"I'll grab a screwdriver and see if I can get it unhooked from the wall," Tony said.

Without really thinking, Tim brushed a strand of the woman's hair out of her face. As far as he could see there were no signs of physical abuse – no bruises or scars or cuts – but he'd no doubt that the woman had been frightened out of her mind. "We're here," he whispered to her. She began to softly stir and her eyes began to open. "We're going to get you out."

* * *

**AN:** One more chapter to go!


	4. Chapter 4

Jerry Lester was apprehended at a nearby gas station. When his car was checked, rope, duct tape, chloroform, and an over-sized trunk – certainly large enough for a human of P.O. Quigley's size – were discovered. The man broke down immediately, admitting to kidnapping the woman and holding her hostage in the abandoned building. Though, he insisted he hadn't raped or sexual abused her in any way, a claim that was soon found to be true when she arrived at the hospital and was checked over by the doctors. The only signs of physical abuse were bruises on her upper arms which Lester claimed were a result of him grabbing her to keep her from running off. He'd put together some half-cocked plan of flying her out of the country, but had never had any intention of killing her.

Anna Quigley spent the night in the hospital. While there was no sign of rape and little bruising, she showed signs of malnutrition and dehydration and the doctor feared that, based on the shoddy condition of the building in which she had been kept, she may have had too much exposure to the elements. When she was released the following day, the entire thing seemed like it had been a bad dream.

The same was true for Tim. This woman he'd known only through an online journal had finally been found alive and had come away from her experience practically unscathed. It was almost exactly the way he'd pictured it happening…almost being the keyword.

* * *

"So what happened with your internet girlfriend?"

Tim looked up at Tony with annoyance. "She wasn't my girlfriend, Tony. We just went on one date."

"And it was that bad?"

Tim just shrugged, not wanting to get into details with Tony of all people. The fact was, the date hadn't been bad; it was just that he realized how wrong he and Anna were for each other. They were far too much alike in their ways to ever balance each other out. It was no one's fault, really, just one of those unfortunate things in life. "I think we both realized it wasn't going to go anywhere," Tim said, more to himself than to Tony.

Tony raised an eyebrow. "I thought you were positive she was "the one," Probie. Your life partner in geekdom."

"I never said that! I just happened to find her journal intriguing and…relatable."

"You were drooling over that thing like I drool over GSM. It was like a geek version of porn or something."

With his cheeks blazing, Tim looked down at his work in an effort to avoid Tony's eyes. He was embarrassed to admit he was right, that Tim had fallen for Anna through her blog. Based on those short little entries, he'd idealized Anna as being this woman he not only thought she was, but that he wanted her to be. Some of his initial assumptions of her had proven to be true, but he realized during their date that there was so much about a person that couldn't really be explored based solely on their journals and that there was so much a person could hide about themselves in journals. The internet especially was notorious for allowing people to pretend to be something they weren't. It gave one a sense of anonymity that they couldn't get through physical socializing. That's what Anna wanted, anonymous socializing. Tim, despite his love of the internet and online RPGs, knew he could never spend his whole life with only the internet as his link to other people.

"Funny, huh?" Tony commented, pulling Tim away from his musings. He looked at the older agent inquisitively. "Well, usually guys fall for a girl based only on looks, and then they find out that she's got no personality. You, on the other hand, fell for a girl based on her inner most thoughts and it still didn't work out. So we know you can't judge a book by its cover, but what does it mean to not fall for someone based just on personality?"

"I haven't the slightest clue, Tony."

"No, Probie, I mean it. You've got to come up with something witty, like…you can't judge a murder victim by its innards."

"Uh, actually you can, Tony. What if the murder victim was poisoned? You'd have to judge that by the innards."

"Well, then give me something, McGee!"

"How about don't judge people before you know them?"

Tony rolled his eyes, giving Tim an exaggerated thumbs down. "That's lame. It has to have pizzazz! Flair! Wit!" Tony was cut off as Gibbs' hand smacked against his head.

"Does that have enough pizzazz and flair for you, DiNozzo?"

"Yes, boss," he replied as he scurried back to his own desk. "McGee and I were just discussing the problem with falling for someone based on their blog…er, that's a, uh, journal that's online, boss."

"I know what it is DiNozzo."

"Ever think about getting one, boss? I mean, you can spill your innermost thoughts into it." When he saw Gibbs incredulous look, Tony added, "I just figured it might be a nice change of pace from building a boat."

* * *

**AN: That's it! Thanks for reading!**


End file.
